Greece 2013.2,

This is just getting written as and when I have time, and when we're somewhere that we can get wifi, which is usually some sort of pool or beach bar, or the tavernas where we're having our dinner. As such, the chronology has already gone out of the window. 

Thing is, I get over excited and want to include things, or I'll only remember things when I've already finished writing something about that day, so from here on out accept that it will be a jumbled mash up of all the days. 

As with most places in Greece, there are cats running around everywhere, because most of them are strays which are fed at the restaurants by tourists with leftovers. There is a lovely one who obviously thinks of the apartments we are in as his territory, and I've given him the nickname of George, because he's a curious little bugger. 

On the day that we arrived, he jumped onto my balcony and stood outside the screen like he was waiting to be let in. He's beautiful, and I'll be uploading a photo of him to the Facebook page just as soon as I get home. He has this wonderful habit of getting under my feet when I'm trying to get in the front door, this morning he was purring outside of it because I got up late and yesterday, when I was leaving the apartment with lots of things in my hands, he ran around the door before I could shut it, but he didn't try to jump onto my bed. Instead he just wandered around under it and was very well behaved. After the wild life that got into my dad's bed, I'm tempted to let him stay, although I'm not sure that even George loves me enough to protect me from something like that!

I've heard of horror movie titles like It Came From Under the Sink and stupid things like that, but this was It Came From the End of My Bed and Bit Me on the Ass. Okay, Dad says leg, but only just. 

Bugs in Greece tend to be a lot bigger than those back home, and I know exactly what this thing was, but quite frankly I do not need to see the photo of it before it went down the toilet. Besides, with my imagination the description of it as a six inch long centipede with a mouth at both ends is quite enough to stop me sleeping thank you! Thankfully we spent today on the beach, and I'm pretty sure I probably fell asleep on my sun bed at least one. 

There's a little beach about ten minutes walk from Stoupa Town Beach called Kalogria Beach. It's really beautiful and is fed by spring water from the mountains, which is really cold. There's also, on the very right hand side of the beach, a lovely plunge pool, that is colder than a witch's tit. I managed to get in up to just above my waist before deciding that was plenty enough for me, but it does make the sea feel a few degrees warmer afterwards which is a welcome reward from such an endeavour. The water around these parts is so clear as well that you can see right to the bottom even when it's more than a few feet deep. Nothing like Blackpool at all. :)

This is what I mean about the chronology being screwed - I'm jumping back a day now to tell you about the ancient city site of Messini which lies in a bowl valley under Mount Ithomi.

Ancient Messini is the biggest archeological site in Greece and I believe it is the longest running which is still currently being dug. After 25 years they have uncovered a Roman villa, a theatre, the baths, a stadium and a gymnasium. And you can walk around all of it. If you're a student in the EU it is free, if you're a non-EU student, under 18 or over 65 the price is 3euros and everyone else is 5euros. It's really not much to be able to go in and see all that they've unearthed. It's really worth a look if you're in the area. :P Admittedly our tour guide was more than a touch irritating. 

Anyway, I'm having my once a year foodie festival. Mediterranean food is definitely my favourite. 

Kalinicht guys,

Greece 2013,

For this to make the kind of sense that it should, I ned to explain a little something.

There are certain things in life that I just don't deal with. It's not that I don't deal with them well, or don't deal with them gracefully or anything like that, I just don't function like a person when they happen. Keep this in mind while reading:

I have a slightly more emphasised version of arachnophobia than some people insofar as I get the creeps at any word to describe them and anything which is generally in the insect category. I also - and I accept that this one is weird because I used to do indoor climbing and have also done some outdoor climbing - don't do well with heights, especially not the cliff drops next to certain roads in Greece. This year we're staying in a little resort in the Peloponnese mountains...

After eventually managing to get the Gatwick Express trains to, believe it or not, London Gatwick, we stayed the night in the Marriott Courtyard Hotel. Except for the exceptionally rude reception woman who checked us in and the rather irritating lack of signal, it was a pretty good hotel, but waking up anywhere at six o'clock in the morning is never going to make me happy - there again, it was necessary to get the plane over to Kalamata airport. We took off at 9:15 and somehow managed to get onto the Greek Tarmac early, and thankfully Kalamata isn't one of those island airports in Greece where space is limited and you look like you're going for your first swim much earlier than planned. You do still have to come at the runway over the sea though. For a little while, it looked like we were going to land in some poor farmers field. 

You'd think that landing early would be great, because it means that the coach transfer can go earlier and then you can settle into your apartment quicker and maybe get out into the afternoon... yeah, that didn't happen. Unfortunately, someone's bag had been damaged in transit, so we had to wait while the rep from our tour operator went and had some big discussion with the Greek baggage handlers BUT the plane was only about half full, meaning the hold could have only been about half full and they always warn you that things can move around and such in the overhead bins, so surely it was more to do with the flight than the... oh, never mind, we got going in the end. 

So, as I mentioned, Peloponnese MOUNTAINS. Shit, right? If you've never seen a Greek road then you probably can't comprehend the sheer terror involved with being in an old coach, with a bat shit mental Greek driver while you're going up roads and around corners which 30, 60 maybe even 100+ foot drops RIGHT NEXT TO THEM!!!! Most of the time, while the rep was encouraging us to look out of the window at the absolutely beautiful (this is his favourite saying by the way) views just to the left or the right of the coach, I had my head buried in a hoodie waiting for it to be over. 

As you can tell, I survived, even though certain roads made it look like we wouldn't. 

This is also not going to make much sense if you have never been to a small Greek village, but the best way I can explain it is this. The Greek definition of a super market that we're used to is less of a Sainsbury's Local and more a very small corner shop the day before they get a delivery. Generally, there's not much choice and if you recognise a brand then it's going to be astronomically expensive and you find yourself running for the hills (quite literally in a way, because most settlements in such places are found on the hills, because of strategic positioning and spring water). What we have this year is basically like the old Woolworth's!!! 

I'm being deadly serious when I say we were like kids in a candy store. There was almost too much of a choice, but I guess that is a really good thing. I even got some Nutella to put on toast in the mornings!! (As a side note to all Nutella fans: because the room temperature is generally so much higher here, that beloved chocolatey spread actually spreads without having to sit it in hot water first. It's quite literally, get out of bed, retrieve bed and spread... :D) 

Monday morning was then spent trying to find the welcome meeting, the over friendly welcome meeting with Stuart - the ex army chef for twenty five years but this is my first year as a rep, and my first year with this company any my first year in Stoupa and say something relevant because they all look bored JAZZ HANDS - and then a general suss out of where everything was, but dinner was something else. 

I think most people know that it takes a lot to make me a foodie, and I mean a lot. I very often cook a shed load of food, but then find that my appetite is nowhere near enough to actually eat it, but here that has changed. (Well, marginally. I want pretty much everything off the vegetarian menu, but having a starter and a main course makes me the kind of sleepy stuffed that is only really acceptable at Christmas or Thanksgiving.) 

My favourite Greek dish - aside from the Quorn versions of things which my mum makes at home - is something so simple it is most often overlooked. They call it cheese pies, they're actually pasties and the Dionysus restaurant in Stoupa does the best ones I've ever tasted. They also do that fantastic thing of giving you bread with the meal, and it's still warm from where they have only just got it out of the oven. My gosh, it's wonderful. 

Anyway, stay tuned for more, because I'm here all week,...

Lots of Swear Words,

I'm a grumpy sort of person anyway, but when I have to be a rain soaked grumpy person and the rain soaks through to my pants, you're really going to know I'm in a bad mood. 

Anyway, we went to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Kew Gardens as part of the summer screenings and if nothing else it came as a confirmation that summer is most definitely over. It was cold and wet and rainy, so the only time I felt like I had any life in my limbs was when the Time Warp came on - I could be on my death bed and I would still get up and jump to the left. We were all in agreement that had the ticket prices not been so expensive we would have just gone and got on the next bus home, but after paying nearly £17 excluding the booking fee, we all took the British approach and just got on with it. Thankfully the girls and I had pizza and the heating to come home to. 

As if that wasn't great enough, the Craptop is once again playing Knock-a-Door-Run on death's door and thinking it can win, when it so clearly can't. I know it's four years old, but the hard drive being knackered is about the last thing I need right now!! Thankfully though there are almost an infinite amount of tech savvy people in the world who know far better than me how to fix these things, and one of them in particular likes me enough to help - even though I turn into an insufferable B1tch when this sort of thing happens. 

Despite best efforts, I have unfortunately lost some of the novel I was working on, though due to my worst efforts towards a NaNo style deadline in the past four years, it thankfully wasn't that much and there are still roughly 5600 words to work from, which is pretty good. 

Anyway, I'm apparently having a social life tonight, so I guess I better sign off and get back to writing, although even I admit that my original deadline is making very pretty circles in the toilet bowl right now... 

5053~

I could have given myself more time to write today, but I didn't need to as far as goals were concerned, and I did have a lot of other fun things to do. In our usual style, my house mate and I managed to continue our breakfast conversation until lunch, even with the arrival of the new paint - because adding bubble wrap just made it more fun! 

It's been a busy day and I'm finally starting to feel better from my chest infection, which can only be a good thing, surely. 

After a wonderful day of painting and cleaning, you can imagine it was tempting to vegetate on the sofa with Stevie and Grand Designs, but instead I went out on a date :) to see Kick Ass 2 - before you judge, I chose the movie and I loved it. 

 After that, we went to Zizzi for dinner. Seriously, it was a lovely evening. 

And I even had time to get to 53 words above my goal the for the day. Let's see how tomorrow goes.

~

2617~

For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter (@CharliesWrite), I decided on the 9th September to start my own little thirty days of writing, using the word count targets which are set in NaNo. 

It works out at 1667 words a day, and while I managed Day 1, Day 2 has been a bit of a flop. 2617/3334 words is still 2617 words, but falling behind in the early stages never bodes well for a participants prospects of finishing. The first few days should have a heavy momentum - but if that lapses by the middle, that's okay, because it's pretty normal. 

Also, it seems that there are just millions of things to do at the moment. Today, my house mate and I tripped to Asda - we wanted to get paint, but they didn't have the colours we wanted - cooked twice, washed the curtains in our new house mate's room and started to touch up the painting with the paint we did have before ordering new. I even went to work in the evening. 

Even still, a packed day doesn't have to mean no time for writing. I have this amazing habit of writing whilst on buses or generally when I'm out an about, either on the notes section of my phone or in an email and then I can just send it all back to myself and paste it in. In a way it's like I never left the house. Anyway, before I need an almighty ass kicking, I'm going to hop to and get some work done this evening as tomorrow looks as though it will be equally fun packed!! 

~

Just a General Blog,

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of chest infections. On this ride you will see a week of coughing, spluttering, and difficulty breathing. For your discomfort there's added pain and congestion. < At least an introduction like that would give you far warning, but I've done this before, so I already know what's involved. 

Oh yes, it's that time again where I have a week of vegetating on the sofa/my bed, the emergency appointment at the doctors' surgery where I'm told that it's "not that bad" and it's almost seen as them doing me a favour handing me a prescription for antibiotics, when I have to pay £7.85 for the privilege of being well, not being able to drink for a week and being reminded every time that if I'm using oral contraceptives that I need to be careful during that week, as antibiotics can affect the pill. I would really love to know why the bloody hell that can happen, but I don't care enough about the answer to ask. I love how it's seen as "not that bad" when my breathing is noticeably laboured at the moment and I have a pain right under my sternum, but I guess that in the grand scheme of illnesses, things could be worse. 

Anyway, I slightly feel like these blogs are somewhat like that game you see American kids play in movies and TV programmes when they're in school - show and tell!! 

I'm finally no longer the only resident of my house, because one of my lovely house mates returned a couple of days ago prompting a miniature movie marathon yesterday - it was two films: The Blair Witch Project and Chocolat. (I'm not reviewing either of them currently, by the way)

I love Chocolat because Johnny Depp seems like a normal human being in it, and I like The Blair Witch Project because nothing actually pops out at the screen to scare you - it's all in your head. I prefer eerie to gory when all comes to all. 

As for everything else, well Yours, is still on hold (the coma is a part of the title by the way) whilst I get another edit done and also ask someone else to look over it, I'm possibly working on the sequel to Fairies - maybe, you'll have to wait to find out - and I'm looking forward to NaNoWriMo2013. After finishing Yours, in 20 days last year it would be really nice to see what this year can bring around - and I'd also like to see if I can finally have another 10K Day. It'll have been a Long Time Waiting. 

Best get back to work, but listen to the song. It's pretty beautiful. 

The Cider House Rules

I'm actually shaking at the moment, because I'm on either my second or third coffee of the day - I'm not sure which, but I think third, and I'm only really used to having one. Getting to sleep 
tonight could be an interesting experience....

Anyway, even though I haven't written one in a few weeks, I'm going to go back to the Netflix fuelled film review blogs, because I think you can tell a lot about a person by their opinions and the way that they react to things, and I quite enjoy looking at that on other people, so I think it's only fair to make the opportunity available to others. 

So there's this film called The Cider House Rules that is about a boy who grows up in an orphanage, because he just doesn't fit with the families he's placed with. As he grows, the doctor who is in charge begins to train him as a doctor for women who are either about to give birth, or who are arriving at the centre so that an abortion can be performed, even though abortions were illegal in America (or at least in that state - the film doesn't exactly make it clear and I'm not sure on the history of it) at the time. 

As much as it is very possible to sit there and just watch the film, and accept that it is there solely for the purpose of entertaining or educating, if you let it, any piece of art, cinema, music or writing can make you think. I say, balls to curiosity killed the cat - blind acceptance kills meaningful conversation!!!  

The most obvious debate available because of the film is that of whether or not abortion should be legal. Even in the days where I was a pretty loud and angry atheist, it was something I wouldn't have been able to consider, but then again, I accept that when we create a law which is against it, it's not beneficial to people - mainly women. In every age, there have been myths of how not to get pregnant or ways to get rid of the foetus and some of them are down right brutal and not just to the infant. Women have died because of the injuries caused to their bodies or because of the infections which occur because of improperly sterilised implements or environments. I'm not saying that it's morally correct, but I think I would prefer their to be a legally regulated system as opposed to back street abortion clinics that become responsible for the deaths of young women as well as their potential children. 

If you look at the film again though, you can sort of see it as a coming of age drama where the main character has no other option than to take another look at his morals and see that sometimes you have to do things that you don't necessarily agree with for the greater good. To help a young woman he befriends, he performs an abortion, because he has the ability to help her and feels compelled to use it, even though he's not comfortable with it. Having grown up in the orphanage, there was no money for him to attend college or medical school, but after shadowing the doctor who is responsible for where he grew up, he has pretty much the exact training. He is the person who is needed to replace the doctor, so even though it involves lies and forgery to "prove" his ability to practice medicine, he sees where he is needed and reacts. 

If it's not obvious, I do love the film, but I was contemplating it for hours afterwards as to whether or not that was something I could do. 

For so long, he rejects the idea of being a doctor, of returning to the place he grew up and providing help for young women in trouble, but in the end he accepts that the gift which has been given to him - this medical training which enables him to help women and prevent them from harming themselves - is more important than his own selfish wants. It sort of reminds me of The Cross and The Switchblade - a fantastic book about Pentecostal preacher who brings religion back to New York City, to the children in gangs, to the girls who hang around the gangs to be used as nothing more than warm sex dolls and to the heroin users. He is pretty much dragged kicking and screaming to what he eventually feels is his destiny, much like I see the main character. 

Anyway, Goodnight you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England.